Canadians Establishing Credit in the United States

First to have good credit in the United States you have to have some kind of credit history. When you leave Canada your credit history no matter how good usually stays behind.

Canadian citizens that reside in Canada can setup and establish credit and credit history within the United States and this article will show you some tips on how to do exactly this.

The easiest way to start establishing credit within the United States as a Canadian citizen is to open a credit account with a recognized department store.

I went to a regular store in the US that issues credit accounts. Niagara Falls Prime Outlet Mall is where I went. I went to a clothing store and simply applied. They do this often for Canadian residents so I figured they would know how to set this up the fastest. I gave them my name, my address, where I worked, my social insurance number, and one piece of identification and an existing credit card number from a Canadian credit card. I was approved in less than five minutes. I also made sure the store had an online "manage my account" presence.

So how to manage your American Credit Card appropriately? Buy something and pay it off right then. Buy something on your american credit card then use your Canadian credit card to pay the American credit card right then and there. There are a couple of reasons for this. It is difficult to pay for your American credit card from outside of the States. Some companies may also charge you up to 20.00 dollars $US to process the transaction if you try to pay via phone with a credit card. If you pay it off when you are in the store it does not cost you anything. Secondly if you think "I will be back in the states before the "30 days" don't count on it, and if you miss a payment you can rest assured this will affect you negatively in one form or another. Try to make at least 6 purchases a year.

Second thing you should do is set up your access to your online account as soon as possible. This way you can monitor your activity and card and ensure nothing has gotten out of control. Ie. service fees. I once made a payment and quickly realized it was not enough. I did not notice until I got home and looked at my account online.
If you can keep your balances under 10% of your limit at any given time, this establishes revolving credit better.
I personally believe in the 0 balance theory being best. Pay off your balances in total within 30 days of the bill being received.

Once you have set up one or two credit card accounts, open a bank account. It is best to open an account in a border town they will be more familar with the process and what information you need to set up the account. You may want to call a few different banks in the US to discuss what exactly the process is.

Within six months you should start to show up on the US radar as having credit in the States. Be very aware, don't mess your credit up in the STATES, credit is credit anywhere you go. Bad credit hurts. Good credit can always get you further.

Just like in Canada other factors will affect your credit ability like length of residency, length of job etc. It is good to be stable and pay your bills if you want to have good credit anywhere. Another note balances effect credit greatly. If you do carry a balance you sould always try to keep it under 30% of the total credit limit of your account.